“This is the best of times, this is the worst of times…” And this is the kind of times Hong Kong directors are facing.

The number of Hong Kong productions had gone down, but China is now “Hollywood of the East.” And Hong Kong directors are able to shine in both East and West.

Sincerely wish that fellow filmmakers can take advantage of such an unprecedented opportunity. It means a wider market, more adequate funding, better resources, better returns, but also stiffer competition.

I believe that continuing the spirit of unrelenting self-strengthening, Hong Kong directors will persist in making outstanding contributions to Hong Kong film.

Biography

Born in 1943, Franklin Wong Wah-kay studied at St. Paul’s College before majoring in geography at the University of Hong Kong. In 1966, he joined Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) as a program officer and had dabbled in other roles, including announcer, commentator and producer. In the early 1970s, Wong was assigned to RTHK’s newly-established television department, where he produced and directed its first drama series Below the Lion Rock. He was later sent to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for a six-month training. Returning to Hong Kong, he continued to direct Below the Lion Rock, which had become a hugely popular drama series. From 1975 to 1976, Wong was reassigned to Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), where he served as Chief Publicity Officer and also produced the first ICAC TV series The Quiet Revolution (1975).

Wong made his feature film directorial debut with Love Cross- Road (1976) and followed up with My Kung Fu Master (1978), which he co-wrote with Leung Lap-yan. He also collaborated with screenwriter Lau Tin-chi on Lam Ah Chun Blunders Again (1979) and directed The Lama Avenger (1979), which Wong Jing co-wrote. In the 1980s, he founded his own company Kay’s Productions, which produced a series of comedies, including To Sir With (1981), The Shy Boys (1983) and Faithfully Yours (1988).

From 1990 to 1994, Wong was the media team leader at ICAC. He then became the production director at Asia Television Limited (ATV) from 1994 to 1997. He was the production controller at Astro Malaysia (1997 – 1998) and Chief Executive Officer at the private company in Singapore (2000 – 2003), where he oversaw a production department with a staff of over 1,100. He founded CultureLink in Beijing in 2004 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until 2007. The company had produced documentaries for distribution to major international television networks.

In 2008, Wong became the Director of Broadcasting for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region until he left the post in 2011. He then worked for Television Broadcasts (TVB) in 2013, producing television shows in related to topics such as the environment, poverty, education, housing, elderly and other social issues.